PR; The ‘Eat Your Greens’ Service For Better Business Health

Healthy food. Fresh green salad.

I often refer to PR as an ā€˜Eat Your Greensā€™ service. It’s a business mindset for better, stronger business health. Like most things that are good for you, it is often seen as a ‘chore’ or inconvenient. It is only upon a serious diagnosis, that businesses then change their ways, sometimes at the expense to reputation and the bottom line.

“There is no elevator to success, you have to take the stairs.” – Zig Ziglar

There are different layers to achieve true PR success but the majority of companies will only focus on media relations when they consider hiring a PR.

Jumping ahead to media relations without the background work is like skipping your greens to eat cake instead. Often, that ‘once in a while’ treat has become habit-forming. If youā€™re not fuelling the machine in the right way youā€™re going to encounter long-term, serious issues that are harder to resolve (hello diabetes!)

PR is a strategic, leadership function. It focusses on developing key relationships, to build reputation and trust which drives referrals to your business.

Businesses who don’t invest time and resources into solid internal, community or industry relations yet prioritise how they ā€˜lookā€™ to the outside world (media, social media) or stakeholders are not building a solid reputation. They’re building a house of cards.

Who’s Been Eating Their Greens?

Luckily some business owners naturally have a PR or relationship-focused mindset, whereas others will delay until theyā€™re ā€˜ready and establishedā€™. A few will only focus on business ‘success’ and neglect this requirement completely. Itā€™s only when business health is under scrutiny will the true diagnosis be revealed.

The past couple of months has shown us whoā€™s been ā€˜eating their greensā€™ as part of their business development and are able to reach out to their networks, problem-solve, connect and where possible collaborate faster.

They have solid support and trust of their teams so that when they need to pull together, their team is committed and all hands are on deck. This extends to their community, even their industry.

We’ve particularly witnessed this from the community spirit of the hospitality industry. They not only pivoted their services at lightning speed to support key workers and local communities, created support networks and guidance amongst themselves, but have also worked together to challenge the government to protect its survival beyond lockdown.

A Bitter Pill To Swallow

Likewise, it shouldnā€™t take public outcry for customers to question your businessā€™ values. It should be understood without question, instead of having to protect or justify yourself through social media statements or lose customers whilst you go back to review and change your practices.

Just in recent weeks, we’ve seen the #blacklivesmatter movement drive the issue of racial inequality, diversity and inclusion. Many businesses have realised values must be embodied in the company everyday practices, beyond a tick box action or token gesture which are no longer accepted at face value.

The pressure being faced by businesses and industries right now is inconceivable. Now imagine having to deal with additional issues or barriers that would be easier to handle if they had just eaten their greens in the first place.

Developing Good Habits

A PR mindset driving business forwards delivers stronger communication and relationship building to help achieve business goals. It’s the simple steps that you can adopt that will soon become a natural practice. It is also the foresight to know how your actions will affect those relationships to maintain trust, respect and loyalty.

You can, of course, have cake and enjoy it. Iā€™m just going to hand you the smoothie first šŸ˜‰

Want to know how? Book in your Discovery Call with me here. 

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